WORLD AIDS DAY
Food charity executive wins isle AIDS Day honor
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World AIDS Day events planned
Star-Bulletin staff
JOHN MANION, who has provided care and support for HIV-positive residents for 10 years, will be honored on World AIDS Day with a state Department of Health STD/AIDS Prevention Branch award.
Manion is founder and executive director of the nonprofit agency Save the FoodBasket Inc., which provides donated food and household supplies to people with HIV who cannot afford to purchase such items.
He will receive the Second Annual Suzanne Richmond-Crum Award at a World AIDS Day event at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral in downtown Honolulu.
Richmond-Crum died in August 2004 after more than 10 years as director of the Hawaii Seropositivity and Medical Management Program, an HIV/AIDS medical care program of the STD/AIDS Prevention Branch.
The award was created in her memory to honor a person in Hawaii each year "for outstanding contributions in providing HIV/AIDS services in Hawaii."
Manion, who is also a lawyer, has provided pro bono legal representation for many people living with HIV and has helped many disabled residents obtain Social Security benefits.
He will retire in the spring as Save the FoodBasket executive director but has offered to continue his support and advice to the agency so it can continue serving residents with HIV.